Extended warranties on LCD TV's

[Lindy Lee]

I know this has nothing to do with fishing other than I can watch fishing shows on it. We puchased our first LCD tv and was wondering if the extended warranties are worth the money on these. They want about $350.00 for 3 years on a tv that cost $1620.00. Replies would be apreciated.

[Valv]

I am not a fan of extended warranties. Main question is what's your TV worth after 2 years or longer, since 1st year is standard.

Prices of LCDs have dropped dramatically in 12 months period, what was $ 2500 last year is $ 950 now.

I used to have a computer business, when people was asking why I wasn't offering extended warranties I always replied that after 1 year there was no part on their computer that is worth the cost of the warranty, in fact may times the whole computer was not worth it...

[upnorth]

Extended warranties are big time money makers for the sellers. If you think about it to pay off for the buyer the failure rate would have to be pretty high. I just don't think they are a good thing for the general consumer.

[DTro]

I never buy them either. In most cases if something is faulty, it will show up within the mfg warranty period. It's an odds thing for me. I'll take the odds of it not failing outside the mfg's warranty.

What Valv said is also true. I paid at least 3k for my LCD about 3 yrs ago. I don't even want to say how much it would cost now

[harvey lee]

These warranties are a great money maker for the companies. When you purchase anything, they are always pushing you to purchase the warranty. If they were losing money, they wouldn't push them.

Never any warranty for me. Usually, if it has a defective part, it will show up in that time frame. If its 2 years down the road, buy new.

[Whoaru99]

Quote:

---

I know this has nothing to do with fishing other than I can watch fishing shows on it. We puchased our first LCD tv and was wondering if the extended warranties are worth the money on these. They want about $350.00 for 3 years on a tv that cost $1620.00. Replies would be apreciated.

---

I wouldn't buy it. LCD is a fairly mature technology so I think the risk is small.

As someone else said, if something is going to go wrong, it ususally happens pretty soon or not for a long time.

PS: Many credit cards double the mfg. warranty if you use the card for the purchase. Check your card holder benefits for the details...

[IFallsRon]

Most recently, I'm 2 for 2 on entended warranties, including a Gameboy at Media Play before it went toes up and a TV at Circuit City. I got full refund on the both plus the warranty value because it was under one year.

I'd say it depends on the value of what you buy who/how you use it. In your case, the price seems excessive.

So much of what we buy now is unfixable and disposable. You may pay less over three years for insurance on a boat priced much higher than that TV.

[NEO]

Pay for the purchase with a "signature" VISA card. Part of the VISA

signature concierge service is they will double the manufacturer warranty, just hang on to the receipt. If you don't have a signature card, Google VISA signature card, it's worth geting the card just for big electronic purchases and then pay it off.

By the way I've got an HD LCD TV and I love it.

[jweitgen]

Generally I say they aren't worth it. I especially say the ones from Best Buy are worthless. They are completely separate from Best Buy and are a pain to collect on. When I bought my LCD TV the bulb burned out in a month. Sony was the only ones who seemed willing to help and were by far the best to deal with.

[Lindy Lee]

Thanks guys!!! I did not buy the warranty but had 30 days to do so. I will usually not buy them either but I just wanted to get some feed back. Thanks again for reconfirming what I already knew.

[DinkADunk]

I generally don't buy extended warrenties except when I expect to take an item out in the field and subject it to a lot of vibration. When I had a Pioneer DVD/Nav unit installed in my truck I bought a 5yr extended warranty and I'm glad I did, same with some laptop PC's that I took on offshore oil rigs. If it sits in the house then the regular warranty is just fine.

[Hookmaster]

I usually don't buy them either but Ultimate Electronics deal is if you don't use it you get half your money back. The plasma is in the basement where the kids play so I thought it was worth it. When we bought it Consumer Reports actually recommend it for this purchase.